


wildflowers

by surrenderer



Series: kylux positivity week 2.0 [2]
Category: Kylux adjacents - Fandom, Peter Rabbit (2018), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
Genre: Kylux Adjacents, Kylux Positivity Week, Kylux Positivity Week 2020, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Meet the Family, Meet-Cute, Opposites Attract, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrenderer/pseuds/surrenderer
Summary: A collection of connected ficlets about a British toy shop owner, an American playboy, and their developing relationship.For Kylux Positivity Week 2.0, Day 2: Opposites Attract
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Phillip Altman/Thomas McGregor
Series: kylux positivity week 2.0 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807006
Comments: 23
Kudos: 48
Collections: Kylux Positivity Week 2.0





	1. bea

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Полевые цветы](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29053101) by [Lenuchka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenuchka/pseuds/Lenuchka), [WTF Kylo and Hux 2021 (Our_Own_Star_Wars)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Our_Own_Star_Wars/pseuds/WTF%20Kylo%20and%20Hux%202021)



> For [Kylux Positivity Week 2.0](https://twitter.com/kyluxpositivity), Day 2: Opposites Attract!
> 
> There are 3 ficlets posted right now, I intend on eventually adding one more… they stand more as a collection than a single coherent story.
> 
> This takes place in a universe where the events of Peter Rabbit and the major plot point in This Is Where I Leave You both happened—events and characters from both movies are referenced.

It’s a lovely day in town, unseasonably warm but all the more precious because of it; the sun is shining, people are out and about and enjoying their weekends, and Bea sits at the shop counter as she unwraps her new canvases that just came in.

They’re a soft creamy white, ready for whenever inspiration strikes, and she’s just put them back in their packaging when the doorbell rings and someone walks inside, so she looks up and puts on her best cheerful shop-keeping smile.

“Hello there. Are you looking for something in particular?” she asks when their new customer starts looking around at the toy displays, meandering his way closer to the counter. He’s attractive—tall, handsome, with wide shoulders and a lean waist accentuated by his clinging sweater—and when he looks over at her, she feels her heart flutter. She does have a weakness for men in soft sweaters.

“Uh, yeah—someone at the market outside told me to come here. I’ve got two nephews… and a niece now too, and I figured I’d be the awesome uncle and knock out all their birthday presents all at once. And presents from another country? I’m going to beat Paul at this whole best-uncle thing.” He flashes a wide smile—American, then, judging from his accent. And too charming by half as well.

Bea smiles back. She can’t help it. “Well, then, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got toys for all ages out here, and then a selection of storybooks and paintings in the back, if you’d like to look at those? Something for your niece’s nursery might be a nice touch.” Thomas always tells her that she could easily sell anything in the store without his help, but she just doesn’t have his innate ability to predict what a customer needs. It’s simply easier when the customer is so open with what they’re looking for.

Both of them turn to look at the door when it opens again, but it’s just Thomas, with two cups in a takeaway tray and the familiar paper bag from the pastry stand at the weekend farmer’s market.

It’s become a ritual over the last year since the shop’s been open; one of them ducks out of the shop every Saturday to get baked goods or sandwiches and cups of tea for lunch from the market.

Thomas comes to a stop when he notices that they have a customer, but otherwise, he seems completely unfazed, customer service game face _on_. But Bea knows him well, and it doesn’t escape her notice that he’s looking at their customer rather slowly, like he’s trying to make the sight last as long as possible.

“Oh, hello,” he finally manages, although his fair complexion doesn’t hide the sudden flush on his cheeks. “Bea’s got you all settled, then?”

Bea looks between the two of them, and is not at all startled to see a flirtatious smile spreading on Phillip’s face as well. She knows attraction when she sees it, and honestly, she might as well have melted into the shelves, for all that these two notice her.

“She’s been great. But I hear you’re the toy expert around here.”

Bea is _fascinated_ by the blush spreading over Thomas’ face. Even she’s never been able to get him to turn red like that during their short-lived relationship. He looks like one of his precious backyard tomatoes.

But he is nothing if not a consummate professional, so the paper bag goes behind the counter, as do the two cups of tea. And Bea watches Phillip watch Thomas when he’s showing him the new toys they just got in yesterday, and watches Thomas watch Phillip when he’s admiring her paintings and picking out two for those nieces and nephews of his.

 _Interesting,_ she thinks. _Very interesting_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders) and [Tumblr](https://part-timewonders.tumblr.com/) are where to find me.


	2. wendy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more of a character study of Phillip, but... well, you'll see.
> 
> It'll definitely help to have seen TIWILY for context-setting.

It’s only when Thomas excuses himself to the restroom after dinner and Wendy’s put the kids to bed that she finally gets to ask Phillip the burning questions on her mind.

“Does Mom know?” she asks as she pours three glasses of wine. It’s a valid question to be asking. Phillip has always been the baby of the family, the spoiled favorite, and their mother would certainly have _things_ to say about Phillip bringing home yet another conquest—although this one actually seems like a decent catch: polite and serious, and kind to small children.

“Which part?” Phillip asks, taking one of the glasses as soon as she’s done pouring.

Which part, indeed. “All of it,” Wendy settles for saying. “The part where you’re seeing someone again and didn’t say anything about it for six months, the part where he’s a man, the part where he lives in _England_ and you’ve been making all these trips to see him without anyone knowing? _”_

Because here’s the thing: Wendy’s known about Phillip’s willingness to stick his dick in just about anyone who will give him the time of day since before Phillip knew it himself. She’s Wendy, and he’s Phillip, and there are barely any secrets between the two of them, and even fewer since Dad died. There’s a _reason_ he brought Thomas here, to her house, rather than to Mom’s, or to Judd’s, or to Paul’s, and it’s not just because he thinks she’s lonely because Barry’s off on yet another business trip.

Wendy smirks at the thought of Phillip willingly introducing his new beau to Paul, but she knows as well as anyone that it probably won’t happen.

Phillip is already halfway done with his wine before she’s done talking. “None of it. I’ll tell everyone… eventually. Next time. He’s only here for a week, and then maybe in a month or two I’ll go back to Windermere for a bit… we’re feeling it out. Giving it a shot, having fun.” He shrugs and drains the rest of his glass, probably so he doesn’t have to keep answering.

Wendy raises her eyebrow, because an international long-distance relationship, six months in, and planning for two months from now, is so unlike her brother whose longest relationship to date had been a whopping _four_ months—and that was stateside. But she can’t say anything else because Thomas is coming back into the room with a pleasant smile, like he’s well aware that the siblings have been talking about him but accepts it with good grace.

She offers him the remaining glass of wine, and he takes it, sinking down on the couch next to Phillip.

It’s nothing like every other time she’s met her brother’s flame of the month. Chelsea and Amanda and Sara and every other woman—none of them were _serious_. Tracy was harder to read, but that also blew up in flames, just as they all expected from the moment she got out of her cab.

But Thomas is different somehow; he’s a bit uptight and reserved behind his polite demeanor, he owns a _toy shop_ in the English countryside, and he’s the complete opposite of Phillip himself. And Phillip… Phillip is head-over-heels for him, and possibly doesn’t even know it.

She’d thought originally that Phillip was stringing him on for a good fuck, or maybe Thomas is secretly loaded and Phillip needs the money. Any of those things might still be true; Phillip’s always had an eye for the unobtainable. But her little brother, always playful, never serious, is also a different man around Thomas. He still laughs and makes immature jokes and pouts whenever Thomas jabs at him about his lack of gardening ability, but he also runs his fingers along the delicate bones of Thomas’ wrist with a softer touch than Wendy imagined him capable of, and he watches Thomas like he can’t keep his eyes away. It’s as if his whole world revolves around the man at his side.

And then there’s the various presents they brought along with them. Toys for the kids, of course, but there’s also a lovely painting of a scenic countryside, with little rabbits in the foreground. It’s the most thoughtful, and unexpected, thing.

“My business partner’s work,” Thomas had explained when she’d unwrapped the frame and admired the work. “She’s an artist and lives next door, we split the rent on the shop between the toys and the paintings. This one’s of the area right outside our backyards. There are rabbits, obviously.”

“It’s a set of two,” Phillip had added. “I got Judd one too, for the baby’s room. We’re going to head into the city to see him later this week.”

Wendy had looked between them with a surprised smile. “That’s very thoughtful of you. I’m sure he’ll love it.”

She adores her baby brother, pain in the ass he might be, but she’ll also be the first to admit that he’s spoiled rotten and often unaware of his own selfishness until it slaps him in the face. Charming in small doses, but a real Peter Pan. He’s never had a reason to grow up.

Maybe that’s changing too.


	3. peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...do not ask me how I got to this point where I'm writing a rabbit's POV, but it was cute to think about it.
> 
> Phillip, of course, has no idea that Thomas can talk to the little rascals. Thomas will probably try to keep it that way.

It’s shaping up to be a quiet day in the neighborhood—until Benjamin comes running back into the little hollow with the news that Mr. McGregor has a new visitor coming around.

Now this, Peter has to see for himself.

The electric fence was disabled long ago, thanks to Bea’s intervention, so Peter scrambles up the fence post, just as he hears Mr. McGregor’s familiar voice and heavy footsteps on the porch.

He’s allowed to be here now, even if Mr. McGregor eyes him suspiciously every time he gets near his prized tomato plants. Bea always tells him to calm down, that Peter isn’t doing anything he’s not supposed to. And it’s true, most of the time.

“Four of them should do… and only the ripe ones!” But it’s not Mr. McGregor’s coming out the back door, it’s someone else. This must be the visitor, then.

Peter runs along the edge of the fence and skids to a halt near the tomato plants so he can get a better look. He wonders if he should hop back down to the ground and keep out of sight, but if this Phillip is here to stay, then he should learn the rules of the neighborhood.

And if he can’t live with those rules, then they can live without him.

All humans are tall to Peter, but this one seems particularly tall, with shiny black hair and a big nose, and hands that could probably catch even Benjamin in an instant with no problem. He doesn’t seem to notice Peter at first, but when he looks up again and sees him, he freezes.

“Uh, babe? There’s a rabbit here?” the man asks—he doesn’t sound angry, just confused about it. He also doesn’t sound like Mr. McGregor, or Bea, or any of the animals Peter’s known all his short life. “He’s wearing a little jacket. Thomas, why is he wearing a little jacket?”

“Oh, that’s—wait, is he taking the tomatoes?” Ah, and there’s Mr. McGregor, craning his head over so he can squint suspiciously at the two of them through the kitchen window. Peter feels like he’s on the receiving end of that look every other day, and sometimes he deserves it, but most of the time he doesn’t. Judging by Phillip’s wince and shrug, he’s probably also quite familiar with that look.

Peter feels an odd kinship with this tall stranger now.

“Nope, doesn’t seem interested in them at all. He looks like the rabbit in the paintings we gave Judd and Wendy. Does Bea make clothes for them?” Phillip says, looking at Peter again curiously. As if _he’s_ the odd one for being in the garden in his neat little jacket.

And how does he know Bea? Does that mean he’s here to stay, if he knows other people in the neighborhood? Is Mr. McGregor keeping him around?

Mr. McGregor laughs and returns to whatever he was doing inside the house, while Phillip the newcomer returns to picking the required tomatoes, although he’s unsure about which ones are ripe enough to be picked. He keeps poking and prodding at them, and they’ll bruise if he keeps it up.

Good thing Peter’s got a nose for this sort of thing. He nudges the closest bright red one with his paw, and that catches Phillip’s attention. “Gotcha, little buddy. Thanks for the tip.” He starts carefully picking the ones that are the same shade of red, and after he’s picked enough of them, he plucks one more off the vine, the ripest and shiniest of them all, and offers it to Peter.

“Our little secret, okay? Don’t tell Thomas, you know how touchy he gets about the tomatoes.”

Peter takes the tomato happily, because he’s not _stupid_ and he knows a bribe when he sees one, and hops down off the fence with his delicious reward. He’ll just have to run fast enough so Mr. McGregor doesn’t see him with it.

Maybe this new Phillip guy won’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders) and [Tumblr](https://part-timewonders.tumblr.com/) way too often and you can catch me yelling about all sorts of things on either platform.


End file.
